Food products, such as pizza, are frequently prepared and cooked at a store location. The prepared food product is then delivered to a customer at a home or place of business.
A freshly cooked food product may be stored at the store location awaiting a delivery person's transportation of the food product to the customer. During both the storage and the transportation, the product may lose heat and the temperature of the product may decrease. If the product becomes too cool, it may become unacceptable to a customer. As a result, attention has been directed at techniques for keeping a food product warm after it has been cooked.
In the pizza industry, it is common to prepare a pizza and store it in a cardboard box. The cardboard box is then placed under a heat lamp awaiting pickup by a delivery person. The delivery person then stores the cardboard box in a thermally insulated carrying case for delivery to the consumer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,962 to Hyatt and U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,646 to Solomon et al. describe devices which can be used to keep food items warm during transportation.